Where Identity Begins II
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Open Bibles to John 14. We’re continuing our discussion about identity.
Jesus said to His disciples before His crucifixion.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Orphans often struggle with identity.
Where in this together.
Who is Jesus? Logos ….
If you’re going to have the commandments must know the commandments. How will you know the commandments unless you’re reading and listening? How can you obey …?
If keep the Word = know the Word (read, hear) and obey the Word.
WE make OUR home with him. Who? The Triune God makes His home in the Believer. Think about this. Who is living inside of us?
But something often hinders this reality. Sin. Disobedience. Fear. Unbelief. Lies.
Let’s talk about God’s identity or attributes.
An attribute is the unchanging constant character or nature of God as revealed in Scripture.
The challenge is …
We must keep the totality of all God’s attributes in mind all the time.
See this is where we can get into trouble and begin to create a god in our own image rather than being conformed to His image. We get into serious trouble with our identity and with our witness when we start marking off the attributes we don't like or don't want to believe. God is not a buffet - we don’t have the right or the knowledge to dictate His character.
God is never, at any given moment, more or less than the totality of His attributes.
God is never more merciful one day and less the next. This can be difficult to comprehend because we are so finite, so out of balance, driven by biases … but not God. God is fully balanced 100% of the time.
Attributes. One of the best passages regarding God’s character is found in
And Yahweh descended in the cloud, and he stood with him there, and he proclaimed the name of Yahweh.
And Yahweh passed over before him, and he proclaimed, “Yahweh, Yahweh, God, who is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding with loyal love and faithfulness,
keeping loyal love to the thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and he does not leave utterly unpunished, punishing the guilt of fathers on sons and on sons of sons on third and fourth generations.”
We’ll go through these rather quickly – use these this week to study, to get to know God.
Divine / Transcendent – Gen 1:1; Num. 23:19; John 4:24 - the God who is outside of the constraints of this world
Eternal - Deut. 33:27; Gen. 21:33; Isaiah 40:28; Rev. 1:8 –– God was working before me and He work after me
Faithful - 1 Thessalonians 5:24; 2 Timothy 2:13, Exodus 34:6-7 – impossible for God to break promises
Triune – John 14-17; 1 Peter 1:2; Romans 8
Goodness - Psalm 135:3, 145:9; 1 Chron. 16:34 – never bad, never rotten, never nasty …
Gracious* - Psalm 86:15; John 1:16-17; Rom. 5:15-21; Eph. 2:4-9
Holy - Lev. 11:44-45; 1 Peter 1:15-16; Isa. 6:3;
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
“Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
Immutable - Mal. 3:6; Psalm 102:27; Num. 23:19; Heb. 6:17; James 1:17
“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Incomprehensible* - Psalm 145:3; Isa. 40:28, 55:8 – too big for my brain, yet …
Just* - Rev. 15:3-4;
“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
“Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.
And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!
Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
Living – Job 19:25; Psalm 18:46, 42:2; Dan. 6:26; 2 Cor. 6:16; 1 Tim. 4:10 – contrast with dead idols, possessions that can’t speak or save.
Love (Loyal and selfless) – Exo. 34:6 (loyal); Psalm 136; Jer. 31:3 (selfless); John 3:16 (verb, deep affection); 2 Cor. 13:11; 1 John 4:8, 16
Merciful - Psalm 145:8-9; Jonah 4:1–2
Omnipresent - Psalm 139:6-12; Jer. 23:23-4; Acts 17:24
Omniscient - Psalm 139:1-5; 1 John 3:20; Heb. 4:13
Self-existent / Self-sufficient - Exo. 4:14; John 5:26; Acts 17:25
Sovereign / Omnipotent - Gen. 18:14; Psalm 135:5-6; Jer. 32:27; Matt. 19:26; Matt. 28:18;
‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.
You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts,
For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.
Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
This is the God living inside of us! “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
But something often hinders this reality. Sin. Disobedience. Fear. Unbelief. Lies.
How should God’s character help shape my character, my true identity?
Join us for dialogue and discussion …
Palm Sunday, it is this God, God in the flesh who rode into Jerusalem ….
